Capa in Color

Capa in Color will be the first exhibition to show the breadth of Robert Capa's color photographs. Although he is recognized almost exclusively as a master of black-and-white photography, Capa began working regularly with color film in 1941 and used it until his death in 1954. Some of this work was published in the great picture magazines of the day, but the majority of these images have never been printed or seen in any form.

While he did use color for some early World War II stories, Capa's use of color film exploded in his postwar stories. These photographs brought the lives of ordinary and exotic people from around the world to American and European readers alike, and were markedly different from the war reportage that had dominated Capa’s early career. In the late 1940s, Capa traveled to the USSR, Budapest, and Israel to cover postwar life. Capa's technical ability coupled with his engagement with human emotion in his prewar black-and-white stories enabled him to move easily between black and white and color film.

Capa's photographs also provided readers a glimpse into more glamorous lifestyles that depended on the allure and seduction of color photography. In 1950, he covered fashionable ski resorts in the Swiss, Austrian, and French Alps, and the stylish French resorts of Biarritz and Deauville for the burgeoning travel market capitalized on by Holiday magazine. He even tried fashion photography by the banks of the Seine and on the Place Vendôme. Through his friendships with many actors, Capa photographed Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Orson Welles, and John Huston, among others, in intimate moments on European film sets.

Capa in Color will explore how he started to see anew with color film and how his work adapted to a new postwar sensibility. The new medium required him to readjust to color compositions, but also to a postwar audience, interested in being entertained and transported to new places.